Netflix co-CEO says he doesn’t read business books—at all. Instead, he reads one 1902 fiction about a ship and its reckless ‘hot dog’ captain over and over again

Netflix is in the midst of a high-stakes battle to acquire Warner Bros., a deal that could dramatically reshape Hollywood’s power structure. But amidst the uncertainty, co-CEO Ted Sarandos isn’t looking toward traditional management books for leadership advice.

In fact, the 61-year-old executive doesn’t like to read business books—at all. He instead often returns to his favorite work of fiction: Typhoon, a 1902 Joseph Conrad novella about a steamship captain and crew navigating a severe storm while at sea.

“It doesn’t sound like a management story on the surface, but I think it’s the most powerful leadership story I’ve ever read,” Sarandos recently told CNBC. “I read it over and over again because I find … I get something different in the book every time I read it.”

Typhoon follows a captain forced to make difficult decisions with limited information as the ship faces extreme conditions.